This blog is dedicated to the amazing Book of Mormon and the many different printings of it since its first publishing in the 1830s. The early printings and editions of this book are very rare and very expensive. I don't even try to collect them. This blog is about collecting the editions and printings of the Book of Mormon that are not rare, not very expensive, but are still very collectable and surprisingly difficult to find.
I started collecting Books of Mormon about 6 months ago; I didn't realize there were so many editions, printings, and interesting covers. There are many of these books available at second hand stores like the Deseret Industries. Most Books of Mormon at the Deseret Industries cost $1.00 or more, but typically less than $3.00. There are a lot of book collectors and resellers that line up and rush to the book racks at daily opening of the Deseret Industries. I see them there every time I visit the store, they have a shopping cart full of books and have some kind of barcode scanner to help them determine the value of the donated books at the store. I have noticed that they usually don't bother with scriptures like the Book of Mormon unless it is old. Ultimately these books und up on e-bay for sale.
I have been able to find many of the Books of Mormon I wanted on e-bay for reasonable a cost ($5.00 to about $250.00). There are also rare book stores in our area that typically have very good prices on their books, but many of them do not deal in books published after 1930. This surprises me because it is very difficult to find Books of Mormon and other LDS published scriptures prior to the 1970s.
My goal is to collect one Book of Mormon, one Doctrine and Covenants, and one Pearl of Great Price from each year beginning in 1900 and going all they way through today. These books were not published every year and I cannot find anything to tell me when these books were published after 1930. I personally prefer hard cover books, but paperback books will work too. Some editions or printings were only published in hard cover and some editions were only published in paperback.
I will attempt to show the different editions, printings, covers, and variances in some of those in this blog. I will also attempt to find historical documentation or stories to go with many of these great books.
Here is an interesting example edition and printing. The following is a First Edition 1981 Book of Mormon. This is the only year to NOT have "Another Testament of Jesus Christ: printed on the front cover.
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| 1981 First Edition Book of Mormon |
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| 1981 First Edition Book of Mormon with 1981 publishing date |
All Books of Mormon 1982 and later have this additional statement on the cover. This book was printed in 1981 and has a copyright date of 1981.
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| 1982 printing of the Book of Mormon |
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| 1982 printing of the Book of Mormon, but the next page reads "Copyright 1981" |
Many book sellers on e-bay unknowingly try to sell you a "1981" Book of Mormon, but it has "Another Testament of Jesus Christ: printed on the front cover; obviously not a 1981 edition. The confusion lies in the copyright date, it is 1981 on later printings up through 2012, but the printing date will be after 1981. Try to find one of these 1981 editions to start your collection. Good luck!
John
